The four of them began to walk back to the horses. Mihn stood With Mistress Daran, Tila's chaperone, holding the reins.

'They led me out to the river,' Isak replied in a small voice, his smile fading somewhat, 'then they pushed me down the bank and left me lost out there.'

'Ah yes, nasty little buggers some of them were. Still, children don't know better and their parents didn't give 'em any reason to think what they were doing was wrong. We got them back though, didn't we? Carel chortled.

the memory restored Isak's cheer. 'Garner berries, still one of the best ideas you ever had. Never felt so happy at the smell of shit as that day he scratched his cheek and looked west towards Scree, where the surviving White Circle and Fysthrall troops were believed to have fled, 'I think it's going to take more than garner berries to get the revenge I need nowadays.'

Vesna gave a nod. Isak had put off the discussion of how he was King to respond to the White Circle's attempt to enslave him, though he had talked freely since leaving Narkang about what had happened in the abandoned temple in Llehden, and his connection with the while eye, Xeliath. The Yeetatchen girl was something else he didn't fully understand, and another decision Isak knew he would have to make soon. He just had to hope that those closest to him wouldn't become too nervous of the company Isak kept in his mind: the Gods' greatest enemy, and the daughter of a foreign nobleman, one of the Farlan's ancient adversaries.

'A wagon-brat shouldn't have to make this sort of decision,' Isak sighed.

Tila shook her head. 'Better a wagon-brat with some sort of a brain than half of those bred for the job.' Her vehemence took them all by surprise, but Tila carried on regardless, 'Read a history of the Litse sometime and you'll see what I'm talking about.